West Columbia, SC is an attractive place to live. In fact, the area boasts a mild, four-season climate and many things to do for both the outdoor enthusiast and for those who enjoy more traditional excursions. Located minutes from downtown Columbia, the area is bursting with great food, nightlife, and entertainment. With restaurants and shops at your fingertips along with tons of charm, you will be happy with your decision to move to an apartment in West Columbia, SC.

If you are looking for a one bedroom apartment in West Columbia, SC look no further than Abberly Village. These apartment homes have distinctive architecture and exclusive amenities. We have eight different styles of one bedroom apartments, ranging from 684 to 1054 sq ft. It all depends on what you need and what you are looking for.

Enjoy easy access to I-26, quick commutes to Downtown Columbia and Lake Murray and the convenience of ample shopping, dining and recreation just minutes from your door. Abberly Village offers a tranquil setting with the conveniences of the city lifestyle. Because it's How You Live that matters.

It’s Thanksgiving week and a time each year when we reflect upon the blessing within our lives. Today our warmest Thanksgiving wishes go out to all of you, our residents, friends, and neighbors. Along with this note of thanks to you, this week we offer a special Thanksgiving “shout-out” to one of the more unsung Thanksgiving heroes, Sarah Hale. Historians credit Sara Hale as the originator of the Thanksgiving federal holiday.

Sara Hale undertook a 17-year letter writing campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday observed in all states. Before Hale, Thanksgiving was not a fixed holiday but rather an informal tradition. Presidents would select a day and make it known that it would be a day of thanksgiving and community. Hale lobbied five separate presidents for a set date until finally her request was granted by president Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln congratulated her tenacity and immortalized the holiday as part of American culture.

So thanks, Sara, for your 17 years of letter writing, for securing our Day of Thanks on Thursday, and for your part in creating one of the most warm and celebrated day within our American culture!

You may be focused on being near an awesome golf course, but your health and happiness will rely more on these key factors.

1.Housing

Housing is the biggest factor in most Americans’ budgets, by far. In retirement, especially, if you can eliminate a mortgage payment or rent, you can keep your housing costs from changing while your income is fixed.

Renting a home in retirement is tempting, and for good reason: In many markets, renting still is cheaper than buying a home

Renting buys retirees the flexibility to move on a whim. It’s a more carefree life, with no expense or labor for home and yard upkeep. Leaky faucet? Just call the landlady. Let her deal with it.

Median rents rose more than 6 percent from 2007 to 2015. Increases may slow and prices may even stagnate, as after the Great Recession. But to be safe, renters should be ready for increases in costs.

2. Entertainment

“Best-of” lists of places to retire typically focus on college towns with an abundance of cultural opportunities, including cheap and free concerts, plays, lectures and visual arts. All great. But what if you care more about browsing flea markets? Or rooting for a major league sports team? First-run movies? Jazz clubs? Whatever is your thing, this is your time, so make sure your new hometown will deliver when it comes to your unique interests.

3. Employers

Employers? Sound crazy? Once, perhaps. But today most of us probably get it: Retirement often isn’t permanent. CareerBuilder’s 2015 survey found that 54 percent of workers age 60 and older planned to work part- or full-time after retirement.

Many Americans, in fact, cycle in and out of retirement. Some retirees grow bored and want stimulation from work. Others learn that their retirement income doesn’t stretch as far as they’d hoped. Or they lost savings or home equity in the recession. You, too, may want to work again after being retired for a while — and you won’t want to move to find it.

In addition to all that, a town with plenty of living wage jobs is a healthy, livable town with a strong economy — the best kind of place to live.

4. Excellent medical care

It’s self-evident, but it’s worth saying: Older people consume more medical care. And they often require care from specialists and facilities specializing in, for example, orthopedic care and geriatric care (and doctors who’ll take your insurance). Find out if your destination has what you need by talking with people and calling providers.

5. Proximity to your family

Being near family when you retire isn’t crucial, and it isn’t for everybody. But even if you don’t mind not seeing family members for extended periods of time, think about the fact that your children or loved ones may one day need to take an active role in your care, perhaps even becoming your caregivers. Great distances make caregiving stressful and often agonizingly difficult for adult children who are also raising families and working.

6. Public transportation

Younger retirees don’t usually give a thought to the availability of transportation. They’re accustomed to hopping into cars and going where they wish, when they wish. But that independence and freedom rarely lasts forever. If you intend to stay in a new community as you age, you may eventually want to use buses, trains, light rail, cabs and ride-sharing companies. Assure yourself, long before you need it, that your new town has plenty of ways to get around.

7. Assisted living, retirement homes and elder co-housing

It’s not a bad idea to pay attention to the availability of long-term care nearby. Nearly 70 percent of people who are 65 and older will eventually develop disabilities and 35 percent will spend time in a nursing home. A little basic research on the front end can help you make sure it’s a good one.

8. Social life

Talk with people you meet to gather a sense of how friendly the community is. If you are looking for a faith community, investigate the congregations that might appeal to you and attend services at several to test the waters. Ask yourself where and how you will make friends. Shop the grocery stores at a couple of different times of day and week to see if people are interacting or simply hurrying in and out. Try to pick up a sense of how warm and open to newcomers the town is. Even those who are not social types may be unhappy in an atmosphere that is cold, exclusive or frenetic.

9. Cafes, restaurants and gathering places

Where do people gather in the community you are considering? Try to look at the place with the eyes of someone who has just moved there: Visit the coffee shops, senior center, parks and movie theaters. If you speak a second language, is there a cultural center where you’ll feel at home?

10. Learning

One of the joys of retirement is having the time to learn simply for the fun of it. Make sure you won’t be stuck in a learning desert — and don’t make assumptions, good or bad, without checking into what’s available. If you have dreamed of attending classes and lectures and picking up new skills or honing old ones, find out what’s available. A quilter, for example, would look for a vibrant quilting or fabric store that’s a hub for workshops, classes and group activities. A busy arts center or arts supply store opens the door to classes in painting, drawing, fiber arts and photography. Look for a brick-and-mortar bookstore, a good sign of a community for people who like to read, think and discuss. Drop into the store and ask what’s going on in town, where book talks and lectures are held and how often. Visit a lumber or hardware store, poke around and ask people about woodworking or boat-building classes in town. A visit to the website of the local community college and other schools will give a sense of the classes, clubs and weekend events offered to community members who are not pursuing a degree.

Starting later this year, all honorably discharged veterans, no matter their branch of service, will be eligible to shop tax-free online at the Army & Air Force Exchange Service with the same discounts they enjoyed on base while in the military. It’s the latest way in which the organization is trying to keep its customers as the armed forces shrink and airmen and soldiers buy more for delivery.

Adding 13 million potential new customers will give extra ammunition to the group that runs the stores on U.S. Army and Air Force bases worldwide as it fights Amazon and other retailers for veterans’ online shopping dollars.

Since hiring its first civilian CEO five years ago, the Exchange has upgraded the brands at base stores to include items like Disney toys, Michael Kors fashions and other top names. Like private stores, it’s also imposed tighter cost controls, reduced the number of employees and improved people’s experience on the website.

“The intent is to really beat Amazon at their game because we have locations literally on the installations,” said CEO Tom Shull. “We’re leaning toward not just ship-from-store but pick-up-from-store and eventually deliver-from-store.”

The Exchange is adding shipping centers within its stores to allow it to send products directly from those locations more cheaply and quickly. Twenty-six stores now ship orders, and that will expand to 55 by the end of the year.

Within the next three years, Shull said the goal is to deliver something on base within two hours of when it is ordered. That’s possible partly because the Exchanges are already on base, cleared by security.

The Exchange delivers most orders on the second day now. Shull said shipping from stores will make a big difference in regions around bases, which are often in more rural areas.

Expanding online shopping to all honorably discharged veterans is expected to add about $200 million annually within three years to the $8.3 billion in sales the Exchanges generated last year.

Adding those shoppers, what Shull called “the foundation of our growth,” is critical to help offset the 13 percent decline in the number of active-duty Army and Air Force soldiers since 2011 when the Exchange generated $10.3 billion revenue.

“It’s a modest benefit, but it can save you thousands of dollars a year,” said Shull, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy who served in the Army for a decade before starting a retail career at chains including Macy’s.

Former Marine Forrest Cornelius was among the first to sign up at the verification website when it launched in June, and got a chance to start shopping early to test it out. The 51-year-old was impressed by the site and a deal he found on Ray-Ban sunglasses.

“The biggest thing is price. They’re always going to be a little bit cheaper,” said Cornelius, who lives in Dallas.

But competing on price in today’s retail environment is increasingly difficult, said Edward Jones analyst Brian Yarbrough. Just look at how much trouble Walmart has competing with Amazon, he said, because Walmart has the fixed costs associated with its stores.

“To think you’re going to compete on price, you’re going to have a hard time there,” he said.

Under Shull’s leadership, the Exchange stores have traded their industrial feel and reliance on off-brand merchandise for a more modern look featuring well-known labels.

Two-thirds of the main Exchange store at Offutt Air Force Base resembles any department store, with prominent displays of name-brand makeup, Nike fitness gear and Carter’s clothes for kids. The rest is filled with the kind of electronics, appliances, housewares and toys found at Walmart or Sears, with major brands in every section.

The Exchanges don’t pay rent for their military base locations, and the government transports some of their supplies and goods to far-flung locations, but otherwise they operate mostly like an independent retailer. Roughly two-thirds of the employees are family members of soldiers or airmen.

The Exchange, which is part of the Defense Department, reported earnings of $384 million last year. That’s a sharp contrast from five years ago when Shull arrived to projections of $180 million in losses.

Of last year’s profit, $225 million was returned to the defense department to help pay for quality-of-life programs on bases like child development and fitness centers. Besides the main stores, the Exchanges also operate more than 70 movie theaters and bring in franchise restaurants and other vendors for the shopping malls it operates on bases.

Shull feels those are good reasons for the new online shopping privileges to draw veterans to do their shopping there.

“Veterans value the cost savings and what they can do to support the military,” he said.